Presidential Cuts

Well folks, I'm off for the week to take the ABF kiddos camping. Hiking, soccer, swimming, team building and just overall bonding are on the horizon for 300 township kids in the next week and I am SO excited to be a part of it. I'll give you the report when I return, but until then, I'll leave you with a sign I walk past everyday.

Did you know that Barak Obama gets his hair cut by Nelly??? Thought so....

R500,000 ($70,500) later....

Well this week has certainly been busy too! I thought once the gala was over I’d have some down time…guess I mistaken.

The Amy Biehl Annual Fundraising Gala Dinner went off fantastically! We had over 300 high profile guests attend the magical evening. Famous performers: Michael Mol, Thembi Mtshali-Jones, Mtika, Aviva Pelham, Sans of Time the band, and SA’s Got Talent winner, James Bhemgee all graced our giant stage to give our audience of consulate generals (USA, France and Romania) and managing directors of large corporations (Reeds Auto Group, Clicks, Woolworths, Chevron, Sanlam, and Old Mutual to name a few) a night to remember!

Our theme this year was Gold of Africa so everything from the table décor to carpet on the floor to gift bags was gold. In order to not be too over the top, the accent color was black---black and gold! Mizzou colors!! I was more than excited to help plan this event and even wore my black and gold apparel to several of the meetings (maybe that was a bit much, but oh well).

The guests arrived at 7pm and mingled around the foyer where we had 62 different silent auction items displayed. As they sipped their champagne and Appletiser, we encouraged them to bid on their favorite hotels, bakeries, restaurants, photographers, and local artists—and of course, always reminding them that the money goes to the children. As soon as the bell tolled 7.30, the grand doors opened and our highly talented marimba kids began their upbeat performance to welcome the guests to take their seats in the ballroom. (Ballroom pictured below)

I spent the rest of the evening running around making sure things were in order and people were in the right spot at the right time so I didn’t see much of the performances, but we received good reviews from our audience so I guess it went well! Just after our guests dined on eight hour lamb shoulder with lemon thyme, potato anna, vegetable mélange and merlot jus they were asked to open their hearts and pocketbooks for our live auction. We had so many great prizes including a diamond and ruby ring valued at R98 000, a luxury cruise on the Zambezi River, Safari getaways by Victoria Falls, and a 10-day family vacation for 4 through 4 cities in Italy! I was in charge of the spotters and bid sheets so this crazy fast and hectic 30 minutes kept me on my feet!

Dessert and dancing followed the live auction and guests lingered around the place until just after midnight. In between all the eating and donations, we had kids from our programs perform different numbers (traditional, kwaito, gumboot and hip hop dancing, brass and strings, the choir, recorders, and the marimbas).

After breaking down the evening, closing the silent auction bids and helping guests redeem their prizes and cleaning up the room I suddenly realized that how tired I was. Nevermind the exhaustion, it was time to celebrate! Maike and I made our way home for some tea and cookie making before finally heading to bed.

After tallying up the ticket sales (R1000 per person!), live auction, silent auction, pledges, and spontaneous donations for the evening, we made quite a sum! Factor in our expenses and grand total came to a whopping R500,000 ($70,500)!!!!! SUCCESS!!!!!!

Throughout the whole process—the late nights, the early mornings, the countless number of runs to the coffee shop and Eastern Foods Bazaar for mango lassis to keep motivated, the hours spent in one excel spreadsheet, the random sentances uttered by the fried brain cells of Ilchen and myself and the day of the event festivities—I lived off the excitement of the event. I loved event planning! Although it was stressful at moments, working towards one big event to raise money for our programs, to give township kids a better chance at life and keep them off the streets was certainly something I was passionate about. Maybe I will put event planner in my next job criteria…..

All in all, the Amy Biehl Gala Event was a hit and tomorrow I will go on a road trip up the West Coast and just chill on the rocky beaches to relax and enjoy the sunshine J

Note: Sorry there aren’t more pictures, I was so busy running around I didn’t have time to take any L Once I get some from the office, I will post them.

I'm Not Dead..I Promise

Sorry I've been such a stranger recently!

The Amy Biehl Foundation is hosting its annual Gala Event Fundraising Dinner and I have been deemed event co-ordinator along with one other woman in the office. It's been pretty hectic--coming in to the office early and leaving late, but I've so much enjoyed the work. From obtaining hundreds of donations (juice to wine to luxury cruises on the Zambezi river to phoning FW de Klerk) to literally writing the order of events, managing the RSVP spreadsheet, and meeting with the florist, artists, staging crew, and MCs of the evening, my time has been pretty full!

But, as always, I've found time to fit in a few fun things recently.

Almost 2 weeks ago now, we took our Foundations Phase kiddos out to the park for a braai and some play time. It was so great to give these kids a chance to play outside of their usual township environment and to really just goof off, eat cotton candy, and play in the mud.

Next up on exciting things in life---SKY DIVING!!!! I seriously can't give this experience enough credit, but in a nutshell here it is:

You suit up in your harness which isn't much more than what you would wear rock climbing (although you do have straps over your shoulders) and sit in the airplane hanger waiting for your turn to do something completely against all common sense. I can honestly say that I think I was more excited than nervous about the whole experience. The 20 minute plane ride while sitting on my instructors lap and literally crammed into a tiny tiny aircraft with 6 other people was so exhilarating as we climbed up to 9000 feet. The views were absolutely STUNNING!

Next thing you know, the side of the plane opens and I'm hanging my feet over the edge and falling and ignoring all gut feelings and falling out of a plane. After 35 seconds of complete free fall and absolutely LOVING the rush and craziness of the whole situation, the parachute was pulled and the next 5 minutes I slowly drifted to the ground (all the while making left and right turns by pulling strings on my parachute). And just as soon as the door to the airplane opened, I was on the ground again...ready to jump back in the plane and go for round 2! Maybe I should put "become a sky dive instructor" on my bucket list....

I guess you could say I've been keeping busy with things in both work and play. In other news, I went to the Bafana Bafana vs USA soccer game in the Greenpoint World Cup Stadium which is a whole other experience to talk about. In short, it was incredible, the USA won 1-0 and we were interviewed on live TV for being Americans. I've posted a picture below, but I'll explain more later. For now, I should get some sleep. Morning comes early and the gala dinner is only a day away!

I Play My Vuvuzela in B-Flat

(note: this was supposed to be uploaded on 4 Nov)

So today I was back at work again for the first time since Monday. With my illness nearly gone, I returned to a pile of papers on my desk and 68 unread urgent emails (never mind the other un-urgent ones), and a stack of 10 laptops to inspect. No worries though, I had a good 5 hours to get some quality work in before heading out to the township----right….. In true Cape Town fashion (or is it Amy Biehl Foundation or South Africa or Africa, I just don’t know), we were interrupted today for a good three hours by nothing less than a vuvuzela workshop. That’s right, those lovely ‘instruments’ that gave the world a headache during the World Cup would now be tooting and blaring for the next little while in our small office space. So much for getting that work done!

It was actually quite hilarious as this white man in his late sixties, grey moustache, South African flag bandana and zebra print shirt pranced around the room showing us the many ways to use a vuvuzela. He even brought his friend (apparently a famous South African cellist) along for accompaniment!

Throughout the morning, we proceeded to work on singing, humming, and blowing the South African National Anthem through the small plastic tube. Who knew there was more than just crazy loud buzzing that could come out of such an ‘instrument.’ Our facial haired friend vibrantly instructed us on the appropriate usage and volume for these vuvuzelas which is not quite as boisterous as a World Cup game.

In true random African fashion (and admittedly kind of cheesy) we finished the day out by singing Josh Groban’s You Raise Me Up as an entire office while standing in a circle and holding hands. I was waiting for Kum-bayah to be sung next, but it never happened….oh well, maybe next time.

At the end of the day, I guess you could say I know a bit more about vuvuzelas than the average joe so if you need help or want lessons to improve your skills, just give me a ring and I’d be more than happy to help!

If You Put a Kid Out a Window, He Will Bring Back a Spoon

Sorry I’ve been a bit lax in my blogging—this past week was super hectic and this week I’m home sick from work (no need to worry out there, it’s not some ridiculous disease, just a bit of flu—I’ll be back and at it tomorrow). Anyways, I think I’ll give you guys an update on work and what’s going on during this busy season as the school year here draws to a close.

I’m still working with the Foundation phase class at my elementary school and I think I’ll stick with the little kiddos until the end of the year. There is a new computer class that started up at a different school where it is safer and as much as I would love to continue teaching kids how to type a CV and make powerpoint presentation and paint their families, I think the Foundation phase has a bigger need. The current teacher for computers is a very talented lady and she’s got it under control. The 60 kids under the age of 7 however…well, let’s just say control isn’t a word I would use to describe them.

Nosibulelo, the primary teacher, has an incredible way of making these kids behave, but when there are 60 of them in one room, things can get a bit hectic. In order to ensure maximum learning in our classroom, we have decided to give them spelling tests in Xhosa and English. I administer the Xhosa side and she administers the English side. This way, we both learn each other’s language. When it comes to marking these kids tests, I mark them both. It’s really great actually! Not only are the kids learning to listen, read, and write in English and Xhosa, but I’m adding to my minimal Xhosa vocabulary at the same time! We’ve done a few art projects and some games, but most recently we worked with colors in Xhosa in English. It was during one of these days when the door handle broke….

The school that I’m teaching at isn’t exactly the nicest school in the world, but it is pretty well maintained as far as township standards go. Only a few windows are broken and all of the doors have handles and locks and close all the way. While I was busy explaining the color blue, one of the kids decided to hang all of his weight on the door handle as he went out…..and then it snapped. The outside part fell off and the inside part was now completely broken in two. Somehow he managed to lock the door before breaking it so now we were completely stuck. Funny how it seems to be a theme that I am stuck in this one classroom with 60 kids…..

Anyways, after trying to pry the door open with a stick from the trashcan, the kids decided it would be a good idea to all rush over and help. No surprise here that they ended up pushing and shoving until 3 girls were crying and two boys hitting each other. Eish! These kids! After regaining control of the room and sitting them all down again at their desks, I did the only thing which seemed feasible at that moment—put a kid out the window. I took the smallest kid who knew where to go and opened the window and lowered him down. He then ran to get the supervisor who proceeded to bring a metal spoon and pry open the lock (apparently this wasn’t the first time the door had broken). After about 8 long minutes of suspense, we were free!

Only here would you throw a kid out the window to fetch a spoon to pry you out of a classroom…oh the stories I am racking up by teaching at John Pama! I love that every day is its own adventure and when people ask me for a typical day at work, I really can’t answer with a straight answer. Because here, anything can happen J